awesome-react-gamepads

🎮   A react hook to use the browser Gamepad API in react applications.

⚠️ NOTICE: UNDER DEVELOPMENT ⚠️

Please note: this package is currently under development. Check back often for the latest updates.

Currently, The react hook is working. context and HOC coming soon.

Install

> npm install awesome-react-gamepads

Features

• A react hook to use the native browser Gamepad API in react applications.

• A React component (in demo project) to visualize button and axe interaction on the xbox gamepad.

• Support for using a callback on successful konami code entry from the gamepad.

• Supports ES modules (esm), CommonJS (cjs) and UMD modules. The default entry point is the esm module.

Coming Soon

• React context to use the native browser Gamepad API in react applications.

Hook Usage

Examples

Example using callback props

import useGamepads from 'awesome-react-gamepads';

interface IGamepads {
  [key: number]: Gamepad;
}

const Controller = () => {
  const [gamepad, setGamepad] = useState<Gamepad>({});
  const [gamepads, setGamepads] = useState<IGamepads>(null);

  useGamepads({
    // onConnect: (gamepad) => console.log('Gamepad Connected: ', gamepad),
    onUpdate: (gamepad) => setGamepads(gamepad),
    onGamepadButtonUp: (button) => onGamepadButtonUp(button),
    onKonamiSuccess: () => onKonamiSuccess(),
  });

  return <div>...</div>;
};

Example using events

import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import useGamepads from 'awesome-react-gamepads';

interface IGamepads {
  [key: number]: Gamepad;
}

const Controller = () => {
  const [gamepad, setGamepad] = useState<Gamepad>({});
  const [gamepads, setGamepads] = useState<IGamepads>(null);

  const onEvtGamepadButtonUp = (e: CustomEvent) => {
    console.log('Event - onEvtGamepadButtonUp: ', e);
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    window.addEventListener('gamepadbuttonup', onEvtGamepadButtonUp);

    // cleanup this component
    return () => window.removeEventListener('gamepadbuttonup', onEvtGamepadButtonUp);
  }, []);

  return <div>...</div>;
};

Props API

deadZone

Threshold below which the axis values will be rounded to 0.0. Default: 0.08

stickThreshold

Threshold above which onUp, onDown, onLeft, onRight are triggered for the left stick. Default: 0.75

onConnect

onConnect(gamepad: Gamepad) Fired when the gamepad connects. Will be triggered at least once after the Gamepad component is mounted.

onDisconnect

onDisconnect(gamepad: Gamepad) Fired when the gamepad disconnects.

onUpdate

onUpdate(gamepad: ReactGamepad) Fired whenever the gamepad is updated. This hook is setup to use the requestAnimationFrame and so it updates 60 times per second or every 0.0167s.

onGamepadButtonDown

onGamepadButtonDown(button: ButtonDetails) Fired on (at the beginning of) a button press.

onGamepadButtonUp

onGamepadButtonUp(button: ButtonDetails) Fired when a button press is released.

onGamepadButtonChange

onGamepadButtonChange(button: ButtonDetails) Fired when there is a state change in the button. This could be either a button down or up event.

onGamepadAxesChange

onGamepadAxesChange(axes: AxesDetails) Fired when there is a state change in the axes.

For individual button presses is it better to fire on button down, up or change? Will wait to implement these.

onA [HOLD]

onA(button: ButtonDetails)

onB [HOLD]

onB(button: ButtonDetails)

onX [HOLD]

onX(button: ButtonDetails)

onY [HOLD]

onY(button: ButtonDetails)

onStart [HOLD]

onStart(button: ButtonDetails)

onSelect [HOLD]

onSelect(button: ButtonDetails)

onLT [HOLD]

onLT(button: ButtonDetails)

onRT [HOLD]

onRT(button: ButtonDetails)

onLB [HOLD]

onLB(button: ButtonDetails)

onRB [HOLD]

onRB(button: ButtonDetails)

onLS [HOLD]

onLS(button: ButtonDetails)

onRS [HOLD]

onRS(button: ButtonDetails)

onDPadUp [HOLD]

onDPadUp(button: ButtonDetails)

onDPadDown [HOLD]

onDPadDown(button: ButtonDetails)

onDPadLeft [HOLD]

onDPadLeft(button: ButtonDetails)

onDPadRight [HOLD]

onDPadRight(button: ButtonDetails)

onXBoxLogo [HOLD]

onXBoxLogo(button: ButtonDetails)

onLeftStickRight

onLeftStickRight onLeftStickRight(axes: AxesDetails) fired when the left stick moves right.

onLeftStickLeft

onLeftStickLeft onLeftStickLeft(axes: AxesDetails)

onLeftStickUp

onLeftStickUp onLeftStickUp(axes: AxesDetails)

onLeftStickDown

onLeftStickDown onLeftStickDown(axes: AxesDetails)

onRightStickRight

onRightStickRight onRightStickRight(axes: AxesDetails)

onRightStickLeft

onRightStickLeft onRightStickLeft(axes: AxesDetails)

onRightStickUp

onRightStickUp onRightStickUp(axes: AxesDetails)

onRightStickDown

onRightStickDown onRightStickDown(axes: AxesDetails)

onKonamiSuccess

onKonamiSuccess() Fired when someone correctly enters to konami code.

Events

gamepadconnected

gamepadconnected Dispatched when the gamepad connects. Will be triggered at least once after the Gamepad component is mounted.

gamepaddisconnected

gamepaddisconnected Dispatched when the gamepad disconnects.

gamepadupdated

gamepadupdated Dispatched whenever the gamepad is updated. This hook is setup to use the requestAnimationFrame and so it updates 60 times per second or every 0.0167s.

gamepadbuttondown

gamepadbuttondown Dispatched on (at the beginning of) a button press.

gamepadbuttonup

gamepadbuttonup Dispatched when there is a state change in the button. This could be either a button down or up event.

gamepadbuttonchange

gamepadbuttonchange Dispatched when there is a state change in the button. This could be either a button down or up event.

axeschange

axeschange Dispatched when there is a state change in the axes.

leftStickXRight

leftStickXRight fired when the left stick moves right.

leftStickXLeft

leftStickXLeft

leftStickYUp

leftStickYUp

leftStickYDown

leftStickYDown

rightStickXRight

rightStickXRight

rightStickXLeft

rightStickXLeft

rightStickYUp

rightStickYUp

rightStickYDown

rightStickYDown

Context Usage

API

[HOLD]

Events

[HOLD]

Examples

[HOLD]

HOC Usage

API

[HOLD]

Events

[HOLD]

Examples

[HOLD]

Motivation

I was curious as to how I could use the Gamepad API in a react app and stumbled across this blog post by Ryosuke. He explained everything he did to build his library react-gamepads in extreme detail.

I really wanted to be able to detect a sequence of button presses though (for example, if someone entered the konami code). In order to do that I had to create an API that allowed me to do something onGamepadButtonUp or onGamepadButtonDown.

Contributing

Yes. Do it. All about that.

How to contribute

1. Fork the project
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b f/amazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'added awesome sauce')
4. Push to the remote branch (git push origin f/amazingFeature)
5. Open a pull request.

Contributors: 1

• 🐵 Christopher Harold Butler (ChristopherHButler)

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Other APIs

Gamepad

This is the Gamepad object of a Microsoft Xbox 360 controller. It has the following API:

Property	Description	Type	Access	Default	Required
id	This string contains identifying information about the gamepad.	string	readonly	null	N/A
index	This is a unique auto-incremented integer for each gamepad.	number	readonly	null	N/A
connected	This is a boolean that indicates the gamepad’s connectivity.	boolean	readonly	null	N/A
mapping	This string tells us whether the browser has remapped the device to a known layout	string	readonly	null	N/A
timestamp	This increments when the device’s state changes. Some devices constantly poll, which means the timestamp is constantly incrementing.	number	readonly	null	N/A
axes	This is a collection of numbers that represent the state of each analogue stick or button.	Array<Number>	readonly	null	N/A
buttons	This collection of objects represents the state of each button.	Array<GamepadButton>	readonly	null	N/A

React Gamepad

This is a custom, extended Gamepad. It has the following additional API:

Property	Description	Type	Access	Default	Required
vibrationActuator	The GamepadHapticActuator interface of the Gamepad API represents hardware in the controller designed to provide haptic feedback to the user (if available), most commonly vibration hardware.	GamepadHapticActuator	readonly	null	N/A

ButtonDetails Interface

buttonIndex: number;
buttonName: string;
pressed: boolean;
touched: boolean;
value: string;

AxesDetails Interface

interface AxesDetails {
  axesIndex: number;
  axesName: string;
  value: number;
  previousValue: number;
}

XBox Controller Layout

button	button .pressed code and index
A	gamepad.buttons[0].pressed
B	gamepad.buttons[1].pressed
X	gamepad.buttons[2].pressed
Y	gamepad.buttons[3].pressed
LB	gamepad.buttons[4].pressed
RB	gamepad.buttons[5].pressed
LT	gamepad.buttons[6].pressed
RT	gamepad.buttons[7].pressed
Select	gamepad.buttons[8].pressed
Start	gamepad.buttons[9].pressed
LS	gamepad.buttons[10].pressed (Left Stick Pressed)
RS	gamepad.buttons[11].pressed (Right Stick Pressed)
DPadUp	gamepad.buttons[12].pressed
DPadDown	gamepad.buttons[13].pressed
DPadLeft	gamepad.buttons[14].pressed
DPadRight	gamepad.buttons[15].pressed
Xbox	gamepad.buttons[16].pressed

References

Official Docs

• MDN - Gamepad API
• W3C - Gamepad
• https://caniuse.com/gamepad

Useful Blog Posts, etc.

Gamepad

• https://gamepad-tester.com/
• https://www.javascripture.com/Gamepad
• https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/11/gamepad-api-in-web-games/
• https://ui.dev/web-gamepad-api/
• https://www.developerdrive.com/how-to-enhance-html5-gaming-with-the-gamepad-api/

Events

• https://javascript.info/dispatch-events
• https://app.pluralsight.com/guides/event-listeners-in-react-components

Existing Packages

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-gamepad
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-gamepads